Smile
by hurricane1714
Summary: Thor has a realization about Steve and decides to ask him out. Fluffiness ensues. Slash. Steve/Thor.


Steve Rogers didn't sleep much. He occasionally took catnaps, but he mostly spent the night hours hitting the gym, smacking the punching bag.

Now, it was six in the morning, and the rain was coming down in torrents out side. Steve was walking from the gym to the kitchenette. It was off in the far right corner of the living room, and was just a fridge, pantry and table. The light in the room was dim, several nightlights in the wall illuminating the sleek and modern-looking furniture.

Steve opened the fridge, and immediately went for the orange juice. The carton had 'STEVE'S DO NOT TOUCH' written on the side, so he didn't feel bad drinking straight from it.

Then he heard a knock. He turned around and nearly spit out some of the juice. Across the room was a sliding glass door that lead to the patio and the God of Thunder himself, The Mighty Thor was standing there.

Steve put the carton on the table and rushed to the patio. He slid the door open.

"Hey! Thor! Come on inside!"

Thor did so, Steve stepping inside to let him in. Steve shut the door.

What are you doing here? I thought you were in New Mexico," said Steve

Thor did not meet Steve's gaze. "I was."

Steve tilted his head to one side. "Is… everything alright?"

"I do not know if it is appropriate to discuss this," replied Thor. "I am not sure of the nuances of Midgardian culture regarding the matter."

"I see," Steve paused. "I promise I will not repeat whatever you say tonight, unless you say something that could endanger yourself or others."

Thor looked up to meet Steve's gaze. "You trusted me to fight beside you when the Chitauri invaded. I will not do you the dishonor of not extending a similar trust."

Steve blushed. "You don't have to… I mean I'm glad that you think… I don't know what I'm saying. Why don't we sit down?"

Thor did so, and they made their way to a nearby couch. Once they had sat down, Thor said, "Jane Foster and I have ended our courtship."

Steve felt like his stomach had been filled with lead. "Oh, Thor. I'm so sorry."

"Perhaps it was for the best." Thor sighed. "After six months together, we were talking less. The only real thing we had in common was a desire to explore a new world. We talked all night, and we discovered this."

Steve didn't know what to say or do, but Thor kept talking.

"I cannot stay with her. She did nothing wrong, and I do not blame her for the way things happened, but…"

"It's still painful."

Thor nodded.

"I'm sure Tony will let you stay, if that is what you are asking."

Thor smiled a bit. "Would he?"

"If he doesn't, I'll torment him with really boring stories about the 'Good Old Days.'"

This made Thor laugh. "Thank you shield brother! I will not forget this."

Tony's reaction to Thor wanting to stay at Stark Tower was throwing his hands up into the air and saying, "Fine! Whatever! What's one more mouth and five million more prima donna demands!"

Despite Tony's initial grumblings, life fell into a natural rhythm. Even going on missions became normal and not "OH MY GOD THE WHOLE WORLD IS DEPENDING ON US!" Well, except for that one time Dr. Doom attacked, but that's another story.

Six months later, the Avengers were doing their second favorite activity, Team Workout. (Their first was Team Movie Night)

The procedure to Team Workout was simple. You went to the gym, picked something to do and did it for a couple of hours.

Natasha and Clint were racing each other up the rope climb. Bruce acted as drill sergeant to Tony as Tony worked the bench press. Thor and Steve were going at it in the sparring arena, practicing their hand-to-hand combat. They moved fast, dodging and giving quick punches with super serum enhanced and godly speed. Steve was dodging more and hitting less, as the combat grew more intense. He danced around Thor, trying to get behind the Asgardian. But Thor seemed to be five steps ahead of Steve, getting hit after hit on Steve's protective gear. Thor wore no gear, and did not seem to be affected by Steve's punches.

The noise level in the gym rose steadily. Natasha and Clint bantered about the other's lack of physical prowess, Bruce got louder as Tony approached two hundred lifts. The shouting bounced off the walls and ceiling, and Steve's ears were ringing.

SMACK!

"AHHH!"

Steve's scream of pain instantly shut everyone up, and they all stopped what they were doing. Steve was on his knees, clutching his stomach. "Oh, ow! Oh God, ow!"

"Forgive me, shield brother!" said Thor, his voice full of horror. He crouched down and put a hand on Steve's shoulder.

"It's fine," wheezed Steve. "It was an accident. You didn't know. I'm fine." He moved his hand and tried to stand up, but he quickly collapsed. "I'm fine!"

"Yeah, right." Bruce had joined Thor and Steve in the sparring area. He crouched down to Steve's eyelevel and held up some fingers. "How many do you see?"

"Three."

"Good." Bruce put his fingers down. "Can you take off your shirt? I need to look at where he hit you."

Thor and Bruce first had to take off Steve's helmet, gloves and breastplate off. When that was done, they had to coax Steve to lift his arms so they could take off his white t-shirt. Tony, Natasha, and Clint stood in silence, not sure what to do.

Bruce examined the bright red spot between Steve's solar plexus and navel, gently prodding it, making Steve wince.

"Will he be alright?" asked Thor. He was sitting next to Steve, gently rubbing the super-soldier's back.

"I think so," said Bruce. "It's probably just a bruise. But Jesus Christ, Thor, you pack a punch!"

Now Thor looked like he was the one punched in the stomach. "I, I…"

"Come on, he needs to lie down. Let's take him to his room."

Without being personally asked, Thor slung Steve's arm over his shoulder, and helped Steve stand. The three of them made their way to the elevator, which would take then up a couple of floors to Steve's room.

When they were gone, Tony turned to Natasha and Clint. "If one of us agrees to go toe-to-toe with Thor, then it is the responsibility of the other two to drag the crazy one to the nearest pysch ward."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

When Thor, Steve and Bruce arrived at Steve's room, Bruce instructed Thor to lay Steve down on the bed. Bruce left for a bit, and came back with blue compress filled with ice, a paper cup and a white pill.

The compress was placed on Steve's chest, and Thor admired, the way Steve didn't flinch at the cold.

Then Bruce handed Steve the cup and the pill. Steve examined the pilled and asked hesitantly, "this is Tylenol, right?"

Bruce nodded. "It'll make the pain go away."

Steve gave Bruce his 'I trust you' look before downing the pill and the water in the cup.

"Is any other treatment necessary?" asked Thor.

"Just refill the compress every fifteen minutes or so and make sure he takes the Tylenol every eight hours," said Bruce with a shrug.

"I will do this," said Thor solemnly.

"Thor!" protested Steve. "You don't have to!"

"I need to compensate for harming you." Thor crossed his arms, and everything about his posture screamed "stubborn".

Steve sighed. "No, you don't! I forgave you for this whole thing before you even asked."

Bruce turned away from the two of them to hide his smile.

"Please, let me help you." Thor looked like a kicked puppy.

Steve just shook his head with exasperation. "Okay."

Thor nodded. "I will do this duty to the best of my ability."

"It's just changing a compress!" squawked Steve.

"Once every fifteen minutes!" said Bruce, smiling and trying to restrain his laughter. He took Steve's Glare of Doom as his cue to exit.

Thor walked over to Steve's desk and pulled the chair next to the bed. "Did I upset you?"

"No," said Steve. "I've had this type of injury before, and I don't see what the fuss is."

"How do you mean?"

"Do you know how I came to be Captain America?"

"Yes," replied Thor. "The Super Solider Serum."

"Yeah, well before that, the bigger kids in the neighborhood would beat me up, because I was smaller and too stupid to back down from a fight." Thor looked down, shame creeping into his face. "No! Thor! Don't look like that! What I meant is that I would get bruises like this one! You are not like them! You would never fight someone who had no way of defending themselves! You're a good person."

"Do you truly mean that?" Thor asked quietly.

"Of course."

Thor smiled. "That means a great deal to me Captain Rogers. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Steve yawned and closed his eyes. "Just gonna rest for a few minutes, if you don't mind." Within five minutes he had drifted off to sleep.

Thor gazed affectionately at Steve. He had observed much bravery, honor and kindness in Steve Rogers. Such traits in excess were rare in both Midgard and Asgard. Perhaps that was the reason Thor found himself so pulled to Steve. Sparring, movies, even just walking around New York City were things that Thor felt happy sharing with Steve, like how he felt with Jane. It pained him to think of their breakup. It was smoother than most breakups, but it was still sad to end something that had so much potential.

Thor looked around the room for something to distract him from thoughts of Jane. He quickly found something. Steve had covered the walls of the room with drawings. They were mostly done in pencil, some with color, and others without. Half were landscapes. There were scenes of New York and places the Avengers had traveled to save the world. France, Japan, Latveria, Germany, Egypt.

The other half of the pictures was made of portraits. Thor recognized his teammates. There was Natasha practicing her martial arts, Clint perched up in some rafters, Tony smelting something in his workshop, Bruce peering into a microscope in the lab… Thor then noticed with a pang that his portrait was not up.

Thor noticed that Steve had put names on the portraits, so he was able to identify the people he did not know. James Montgomery Falsworth. Jacques Dernier. Jim Morita. Gabe Jones. Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan. Col. Chester Philips. Dr. Abraham Erskine. Margret "Peggy" Carter. Sarah Rogers. James "Bucky" Barnes.

There were also little numbers under the names. It took Thor a second to figure out that they were Midgardian years. Then he realized with horror that all they were birth and death dates. These were all the people Steve had known before he was frozen. The only one without a death date was Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan. Peggy Carter's death year matched the year Steve had come out of the ice. 'Did Steve have a chance to see her before she died?' Thor wondered.

Thor went back to Steve, and took five minutes to walked back to the kitchen to refill the compress. He wondered if Steve was skilled at hiding his pain or if he was just too dense to pick up on it.

Two hours later, Steve was still asleep. Bruce came in and told Thor that Steve probably had enough ice and the refrigerator was running out. Thor asked if Steve should be woken in a few hours so that the Tylenol could be administered. Bruce explained that uninterrupted sleep would do Steve more good right now.

At last Steve awoke. He opened his eyes then squeezed them shut and groaned. Thor passed a paper cup and Tylenol that Bruce had left. Steve downed them then opened his eyes. "How long was I out?"

"Fifteen hours by Midgardian reckoning."

Steve winced. "I can't believe I was out for that long."

"When did you last sleep before today?"

"Um, two, three days."

Thor frowned. "I have lived long enough on Midgard to know that going so long without sleep is unhealthy for humans. Are you well?"

"Yes. Don't worry about me," said Steve, not meeting Thor's eyes.

"Are you certain?" Thor laid a hand on Steve's shoulder.

"I'll be okay." Then he sat up. "I'm famished. Do you mind sitting with me while I eat?"

"Of course not."

Thor's did a lot of reflecting about Steve over the next couple of days. Mostly how just Steve's presences (when Steve was content) made Thor feel wonderful beyond compare. Also, Steve's blue eyes and how they lit up when he smiled.

Thor did devote some brainpower to wondering what to do with these feelings. Hiding them would only cause Thor distress, but he was not sure how to go about expressing them. Tony had once explained that American Migardian males shunned expressions of affection from other males after Thor had kissed Tony on the forehead after a battle. This led Thor to the conclusion that earning a male mate was a different process than earning a female one. Midgardians were strange.

One of the things Thor gained from his relationship with Jane was learning to ask questions when there was a problem rather than smashing things or making someone else handle it. Thus, Thor approached Dr. Banner, as Banner was relaxing in the living room one sunny Friday afternoon.

"Doctor Banner! I need you advice!"

Doctor Bruce Banner looked up from his laptop. "What's up?"

"If I was to court a Midgardian male, how would I proceed?"

Bruce tilted his head to one side. "Huh. Same way you would court a woman, I imagine. Someone caught your eye?"

"Yes."

Bruce grinned. It had to be the person that Thor was always staring at, the one whom Thor spent more of his time with, the one whom Thor played nurse for.

However, Bruce had to be sure. "Who's the lucky guy?"

Thor looked away. "Captain Rogers."

'Called it!' thought Bruce gleefully.

"Steve, huh," said Bruce. "Do you think he likes you back?"

This gave Thor a pause. "I know not. But I will discover that when I woo him."

"Okay, fair enough." He leaned back on the couch and let out a big sigh. "At least you know he's not homophobic."

"That means intense hatred of people in relationships with the same sex, correct."

"Yes."

"Why should Steve be like that?" asked Thor, bemused. "I have never noticed Steve expressing hatred for anything."

Bruce sat back up. "Well, Steve comes from a time where gay people were really, really frowned upon. You could be thrown in prison if you were caught with another man. But, I saw in an interview with Steve that shown his attitudes were pretty progressive."

"Hmm. Is it possible to see this interview?"

"Sure, I'll pull it right up."

Bruce typed and clicked for a moment. He then motioned for Thor sit next to him. Thor did so and saw that Bruce had pulled up a website that's overall color scheme was dark blue and had the words "The Daily Show" in the left hand corner.

A video was playing in the middle of the screen. A grey haired man from behind the desk said, "Welcome back to the show! Please join me in welcoming our guest tonight, Captain Steve Rogers!"

An invisible crowd clapped and cheered as Steve emerged from behind the set and sat down at the desk.

"It's a pleasure to have you one the show."

"It's a pleasure to be here, Jon."

"We can skip this part," said Bruce.

Thor dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand, focused on the on screen Steve.

The first few minutes of the interview, Jon asked Steve about The Avenger initiative, and Steve answered politely and honestly without giving any classified information away.

The interview took a more casual tone when Jon said, "So you've been out of the world for awhile."

"That's right."

"What was the best thing about coming to the twenty-first century?"

"Definitely the progression of rights for blacks and, what's the term, LGBTQ community."

This set the invisible crowed chattering.

"Really?" asked Jon, looking impressed and surprised. "Care to elaborate?"

"Where I grew up, a lot of black folks were getting kicked around. Sometimes it was just disrespect, but it could get really bad. The law said that the facilities for blacks and whites needed to be equal, but everyone knew it wasn't so. I can't imagine the courage it took for the leaders of the black community to stand up and fight back."

Jon nodded. "Okay. Wow. So, what about the gay community? Homosexuality wasn't exactly smiled upon."

"No, it wasn't. I didn't give much thought to it until I went to art school."

"Oh…" Jon waggled his eyebrows, making the audience roar with laughter.

Steve blushed and ducked his head. "Anyways. There were these two guys, and they were in a relationship. I accidently caught them. At first I was horrified, and thought about turning them in. But then I realized, they weren't doing anything wrong. They weren't bothering anyone. Besides, the same Bible book that condemned them, also allowed slavery, so it wasn't exactly the best guide to morality."

"This couple, I don't mean to pry, but did you ever find out what happened to them?"

"Yeah," said Steve, smiling. "I was at my school for alumni night, and they recognized me. We talked for awhile, then they invited me to their wedding."

This drew a 'd'aww' from the audience and a big grin from Jon.

The interview moved on to a different subject. When it was over, Bruce shut the laptop. "So, I don't think Steve will freak out."

"Indeed," Thor replied. He stroked his beard and said, "I shall have to do something grand to ask Steve. Perhaps…"

"Whoa, Big Guy," said Bruce holding up his hands. "I wouldn't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Well, if you do that, Steve will feel bad about turning you down. If he says yes and he doesn't like you, you'll both be miserable. If he says no, you'll both be embarrassed."

"Sound reasoning," said Thor. "Would asking him to join me for breakfast be suitable?"

"That should be fine."

Thor examined Bruce's face for a moment before asking, "How did you acquire such knowledge of romantic relationships?"

"I'm a scientist," said Bruce. "I try to take note of everything I see, and that includes human interactions. It's not as cut and dry as other sciences, but there are patterns. Besides," Bruce chucked, "even if I wasn't a scientist, I doubt I would ever forget seeing a girl turning down a marriage proposal on the Giant's Jumbo-tron."

"I see. When should I ask Steve?"

"As soon as possible," replied Bruce.

"Tomorrow then!"

Bruce clapped Thor on the shoulder. "Good man! Er- God! Best of luck!"

Steve was rarely disturbed when he was drawing. He was so engrossed in it that he locked out everything. He was feeling distractible today though. He was trying to draw Thor again, but more often found himself gazing out onto the sea of buildings that was Manhattan.

There was something off about each of Steve's previous portraits. He just couldn't get the Asgardian right. He tried Thor in flight, sparring, even Thor looking at the sky. But Steve could not be satisfied with any of them. So now Steve was sitting on the balcony, sketch pad balanced on his knees. He tapped his pencil against his chin as he looked at the basic outline of Thor's head.

A knock on the door jolted Steve out of his reverie. He turned around and saw Thor behind the glass door. Steve waved for Thor to come outside, and the Asgardian did so.

"Hey, Thor! You want to spar again?" asked Steve.

"No, thank you."

"If this is about the injuring me thing, don't worry about it. The bruise is practically healed."

Thor shook his head. "It's not about that. I was wondering if you would do me the honor of joining me for breakfast."

Steve was taken aback. "Um, like, just you and me? Without the rest of the team?"

"Yes." Were Thor's cheeks turning red?

"Okay, sounds good," said Steve. "I know a diner a couple of blocks down from here. Will that be alright?"

Thor broke into the biggest, most heartfelt grin that Steve had ever seen. "Yes! I will meet you outside the tower at nine in the morning!"

"Sure thing."

Thor left the balcony, waving to Steve before going back inside.

Steve didn't realize he was smiling as he turned back to his sketchpad. He put pencil to paper and began doodling.

So, Thor had asked him to breakfast. Was this a date? Steve didn't know if he hoped so or not. He liked spending time with Thor. He liked spending time with Thor a lot. It's just that Steve was always nervous about romantic stuff. The anxiousness had gotten better when he learned that he wasn't mentally ill for liking both men and women. But he was still shy, and he knew how bad some straight guys could be if they found out another man liked them.

Then Steve noticed what he was drawing. It was a smile. It reminded him of the expression Thor has on when Steve had said yes to breakfast.

Steve sat up straighter and began drawing in earnest. He knew how to make Thor's portrait.

The next day, Steve and Thor meet outside the tower like they had agreed. Conversation was easy. They discussed the idiosyncrasies of the world they lived in, but that subject was now old so they moved on. They discovered their mutual love for the cartoon _Avatar: The Last Airbender_. Thor enjoyed the fight scenes, while Steve liked it for the mind-blowing animation and the fairer look at Asian society than the 1940s newsreels had offered.

Both agreed that the characters were top notch. They were debating "Who would win in a fight, Toph or Iroh?" when they arrived at the diner. It was cool place with pictures of James Dean, Elvis Presley and Marilyn Munroe on the walls. Nat King Cole crooned from the jukebox in the corner, but was nearly drowned out by the chatter of costumers and the clatter of cutlery.

Once they were seated and had ordered their drinks, Steve noticed Thor's behavior changing. He was tenser, his eyebrows were narrowed, and he was biting his lip. Thor took a deep breath and relaxed, then said, "Steven, I have brought you here to tell you…"

Steve's stomach clenched.

"… That I am very fond of you, and I wish to be your partner."

There was a moment of silence. "Romantically?" asked Steve hesitantly.

Thor nodded. "Will you?"

Steve took a deep breath. "Thor, I, I am not experienced with romance. I've never been in a relationship before. I loved Peggy, but we never made it official."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, that if we are going to do this, we're going to have to take it slow."

Thor reached over the table and took Steve's hand. "I have no protests. So long as you are my partner, we can move as fast or a slow as it pleases you."

Steve smiled and squeezed Thor's hand. "Thank you, I will be with you."

And thus began a beautiful relationship.


End file.
